Energy: Shale Gas

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government what national and local regulatory procedures and permissions are required in order to carry out drilling in relation to the hydraulic fracturing method of extraction of shale gas (a) for the purposes of exploration and assessment of reserves, and (b) for the purposes of commercial extraction.

Lord Marland: All onshore oil and gas projects, including shale gas exploration and development, are subject to appropriate environmental controls, including scrutiny by the relevant environmental agency (for England and Wales, the Environment Agency), and are subject to safety regulation by the Health and Safety Executive. They also require planning permission, and consent from DECC, before drilling activities, which may include hydraulic fracturing, can commence.
	Further planning permission and development consent would be required, from the planning authority and DECC respectively, should the operator intend to move forward with the commercial development of the resources. An environmental impact assessment may also be required, depending on the area of the proposed works, or (if commercial production is proposed) on the expected level of production. Appropriate assessments under the habitats and birds directives may also be necessary in specific locations.

Energy: Shale Gas

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government what licences they have issued for drilling in relation to the exploration of shale gas reserves and the assessment of the viability of hydraulic fracturing-based extraction of shale gas; when were they issued and to which companies in relation to which locations; and what licence applications have been made but not yet determined.

Lord Marland: Petroleum licences are not specific to shale gas and do not give permission for operations, but grant exclusivity to licensees in relation to petroleum appraisal and exploration within a particular licence area. Shale gas prospectivity was identified by some applicants in the last (13th) onshore licensing round with those licences awarded in 2008. There are also a number of companies who were awarded licences in earlier onshore rounds, before shale gas prospectivity was identified, and some are now re-assessing the shale potential on these older licences.
	Following the grant of planning permission, consent has been given to drill for shale gas in the following locations:
	
		
			 Well Name Company Location 
			 Preese Hall 1 Cuadrilla Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire 
			 Grange Hill 1 Cuadrilla Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire 
			 Becconsall 1 Cuadrilla Banks, Lancashire 
			 Banwen 1 UK Methane Neath, South Wales 
			 St Johns 1 UK Methane Maesteg, South Wales 
		
	
	Following the grant of planning permission, consent has been given to hydraulic fracture (fracking) of the shale in the first two of the three wells listed above being drilled by Cuadrilla.
	However, following the seismic tremors experienced in Poulton-le-Fylde in Lancashire in April and May, DECC had discussions with Cuadrilla, the operator of shale gas sites in that area, and agreed that a pause in fracking operations is appropriate so that a better understanding can be gained of the cause of the seismic events. A geomechanical study is being undertaken. The implications of this information will be reviewed before any decision on the resumption of these fracking operations is made.
	The consents sought by UK Methane were only to obtain core for laboratory analysis. No consent for fracking has been sought or granted in respect of these wells.
	No applications for consent to drilling or fracking for shale gas are outstanding at the present time.
	There was also some near shore shale gas prospectivity identified by some applicants in the 26th offshore licensing round in 2010. The areas in question are among those for which appropriate assessments, in accordance with the requirements of the habitats and birds directives, are being carried out, and consideration of the award of licences in these areas has been deferred accordingly.

Energy: Wind Power

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to require the amount of subsidy to wind power and other forms of renewable energy to be shown separately on energy bills.

Lord Marland: We have no plans to require that this information be shown on energy bills. Some energy suppliers already include a cost breakdown on bills. We welcome this and would like to see others follow their lead.
	Ofgem also produce factsheets that provide this information and in July 2010 Government published an assessment of the impact of environmental programmes on energy bills alongside the annual energy statement. We have committed to publish updated analysis each year alongside future annual energy statements.

Flooding

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty's Government what impact financial cuts at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have had on the planned programme of flood protection measures.

Lord Henley: Defra expects to spend at least £2.1 billion on flood and coastal erosion risk management over the current four-year spending period. This is approximately 8 per cent less than spent over the previous four years. Flood budgets could not be immune from the pressure to find savings across all areas of public spending. However, as a result of the investment we are making, we expect to deliver better protection to 145,000 households by March 2015.
	In May, Defra announced changes to the way funding will be allocated to flood and coastal erosion risk management projects, to take effect from April 2012. Instead of meeting the full costs of just a limited number of schemes, the partnership approach to funding flood and coastal resilience makes government money potentially available to pay for a share of any worthwhile scheme. Some schemes will remain fully funded by government under the new approach. In other cases schemes can still proceed if project costs are reduced or if funding from alternative sources can also be found.